Periods of peace in Russia are few and far between

At a recent meeting with the Russian soldiers who sustained wounds in the war in Ukraine, Putin told one of them: "Look, you didn't know how your grandfather fought, and you fight like your grandfather! This suggests that it's in our genes..."

In fact, Putin has recently told the truth perhaps for the first time ever. Fighting is truly in the Russian genes. Looking at Russia (the muscovite tsardom and empire) reveals that periods of complete, absolute peace, when it did not wage any wars, wasn’t involved in external or internal conflicts, were few and far between.

From China to Syria

Basically, many historians are unanimous in holding that from the time the Muscovite principality was founded and through to the collapse of the Russian Empire, the state was constantly in a state of war. It is almost impossible to find completely peaceful years in its history. Unless you single out the gaps between major external wars.

One of the longest periods of peace (in the context of full-scale wars) was perhaps the period from 1878 to 1904, from the end of the Russo-Turkish War through to the inception of the war between Russia and Japan. But even during this period, intensive "special military operation" continued in the Caucasus, in Central Asia (for example, the conquest of Turkestan, which were actually fully fledged colonial wars) and the suppression of popular uprisings (Cossack revolts, peasant protests, etc.) within the empire.

Thus, tsarist Russia practically did not experience long enough periods of complete peace throughout all of the empire. It seems that after the bloodiest World War II, where the USSR lost the greatest number of human lives compared to each of the warring countries, it could and should have come to its senses. However, Yuri Khrystenzen, an expert at the Odesa Political Platform media center, calculated based on the Russian law “On Veterans,” that after 1945, the war with Ukraine became for the Kremlin the “anniversary” 40th war.

It all started with the war conflict with China in 1946–1950. The subsequent geography is simply amazing: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mozambique, Laos, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Angola, Syria, Yemen, Vietnam, Egypt, Korea, etc.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, now independent Russia continued its tradition of intervening militarily in Soviet successor states:

– Transnistrian conflict (1992). Intervention by the 14th Russian Army.

– Civil War in Tajikistan (1992–1997). Border security troops and the 201st military base of the Russian Federation.

The First Russian-Chechen War (1994–1996).

– The Second Russian-Chechen War (1999–2009).

– War in Georgia (2008). The Russo-Georgian War, which ended up with the occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

– War in Ukraine (ongoing since 2014).

– Military operation in Syria (ongoing since 2015).

So, in fact, there is no relatively peaceful period in the modern history of Russia.

“Sharks” want money

Against this background, Putin’s hope to “look for and find a new Russian elite among the heroes of the Special Military Operation (SVO)” is quite understandable. He has taken a set of measures to integrate them into the country’s power structures. However, new “heroes” are much more difficult to integrate into them than they are to organize a “bloody safari” within Russia itself.

The latest case: on October 30, it emerged that in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, Belgorod region, a Russian serviceman killed a local resident and raped his wife. This is according to a report from the regional branch of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. And here is a story from a year ago. 37-year-old Azamat Iskaliyev served less than a third of his nine-year sentence for murder (he stabbed his wife in the summer of 2021 because she demanded a divorce). Then he was released in exchange for signing a contract for war in Ukraine. Upon returning to civilian life, in October last year he stabbed a woman more than 60 times because she refused his advances. Now he has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison.

This case is one of many eerie examples of the problems that await Russia when hundreds of thousands of such "Iskalievs" return home. The problem is so obvious that it has been officially recognized by law enforcement agencies. Official statistics from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs show that l11,327 people died in Russia during last year as a result of crimes aimed at intentionally causing death or serious harm to health. (This is an absolute maximum: 9,366 and 8,792 people died from violent crimes in Russia in 2022 and 2023 respectively).

The increase in the number of severe criminal offenses is associated precisely with the war in Ukraine. Such conclusions are contained in the article "The Impact of Special Operations on Crime Rate in Russia" by Willy Maslov from the Ural Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who points out that "the conduct of SVO negatively affects the criminogenic situation in the country at this time, and we should expect the negative impact to continue into the future."

Overall, according to various estimates for early 2025, more than 1.5 million Russian men and women partook in the war against Ukraine. The more of them are being demobilized from the military and returning home, the more Russia will face further, even more terrible violence. It is for a reason that there is open talk in the corridors of power in Moscow suggesting that SVO heroes should be sent to build a “new Russia in Siberia”.

As of October last year, almost 500 people in Russia became victims to grave crimes committed by those who returned from the war in Ukraine, resulting in at least 242 victims killed and another 227 seriously injured. What will happen next when such people begin returning to civilian life en masse is not difficult to guess.

Note that the gene of violence does not distinguish between “friend and foe”. Verstka, an independent Russian investigative news outlet that operates in exile, named 101 Russian servicemen who are suspected of being involved in "zeroing out” their own fighters at the frontline (zeroing out" is a slang term used by Russian soldiers for the summary execution or deliberate elimination of their own comrades – Ed.) Here are two of the most bloodthirsty stories. One involves Kurabek “Kurort“ Karayev, Russian army colonel, commander of the 36th separate motorized rifle brigade of the 29th Army. "He gave orders to finish off our wounded guys with drone drops," says a witness to Kurort's crimes. "At first, he told ordinary soldiers to do it - they refused. Those who refused to go into battle were tied to a tree trunk, beaten with a whip, then, bleeding, were locked in a basement."

Ilkhom “Shark” Peter, army captain, commander of an assault unit within the 80th tank regiment of the 90th tank division, the Center grouping of forces. “Shark ordered to eliminate the guy call signed Fix for the latter’s refusal to go and “reveal” a Ukrainian position (that is, to act as a live bait), - says a witness to the execution. - He was without a weapon, without a bulletproof vest... Shark forced all the other guys to write down the PIN codes of their bank cards. And before going out for a mission, he ordered that they give him everything (supposedly in order to pass them on to relatives in case of death). Expectedly enough, none of the relatives received the cards. There were a lot of dead. Almost all of them died.”

Shark’s greed is easily explained. After all, the return of such “heroes” is associated with financial problems along with moral and psychological health problems. Many of those who return to civilian life will never earn as much as they earn now fighting in Ukraine.

One example: a contract soldier from Moscow can earn at least 5.2 million rubles (almost $65,000) during the first year of service in Ukraine, including a sign-up bonuse worth 1.9 million rubles (24,000 US dollars). This is almost equal to the average annual salary in the Russian capital, where salaries are the highest in Russia. What to say about those who will return to different depressed regions across Russia -- the main suppliers of soldiers to Putin’s army. That is why Putin’s “new elite” is supposed to fight with the “SVO heroes” in the future.

Some in Moscow are already groaning: “Sometimes it seems that it would be better to just live peacefully than to experience the times of heroes and general heroism”. As the character played by Anatoly Papanov in the film “The Cold Summer of 1953” said, he finally wants to live like a human being after all the trials that have befallen his fate and that of his country. But he didn’t live to see it. “Is the same fate awaiting us?”, the character in the film ponders.

The answer is “yes”, unfortunately. Even if the hostilities in Ukraine cease, Russia’s war will not end there. Who it will be fought with -- the “new elite” versus the “SVO heroes,” migrants, or just neighbors – is hard to predict. Russian “sharks” cannot be remade.” Putin has only modified their historical gene of violence with money.

Max Meltzer